WEDNESDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Same-day discharge of patients after uncomplicated percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) cuts the overall medical cost of the procedure by more than half, according to a study in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.
Stéphane Rinfret, M.D., of Laval University in Quebec City, and colleagues in the Early Discharge After Transradial Stenting of Coronary Arteries trial randomized 1,005 patients who had uncomplicated transradial coronary stenting and a bolus of abciximab to either same-day home discharge and no abciximab infusion (outpatient group) or to overnight hospitalization and a 12-hour abciximab infusion (overnight-stay group). The researchers compared the cost (in Canadian dollars) for the outpatient group versus the overnight-stay group.
For the outpatient group, the researchers found that the mean post-PCI hospital stay was 8.9 hours, compared to 26.5 hours for the overnight-stay patients. At 30 days post-PCI, the mean cumulative medical cost per outpatient was $1,117, versus $2,258 for overnight-stay patients. The difference of $1,141 was largely attributed to the overnight hospital stay.
"In a real-world setting, same-day home discharge after uncomplicated transradial PCI and a bolus-only abciximab regimen resulted in a 50 percent relative reduction in medical costs. Extension of this outpatient strategy would be welcomed by the hospitals and reimbursement systems in a context of increasing demand for health care cost reduction," the authors write.
Several study authors disclosed being consultants for or receiving research grants from pharmaceutical companies.
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